Black Joy

I call it Black Joy because I am Black and it is the joy that I have been familiar with my whole life. It is the joy that I have learned from Black people. It is the joy created through our collective healing — our laying down of burdens, to be picked up and shared by our people, our community. This is not joy in spite of suffering — a mask put on to hide pain, an armor put on to push through pain. This is an embrace, holding and soothing us in our suffering. This Black Joy, is joy created through our being together. This Black Joy reminds me that I am not alone, that trouble don’t last always, that I am held and carried forward by a power beyond what I can comprehend.” -Kimberly Quinn Johnson

Kimberly Quinn Johnson invites us all into this particular joy she feels as a Black woman. How can you find joy in collective healing today?

Small Joys

Joy can be big–for example, the birth of a child.  Joy can also be small things to be happy about–seeing an old friend, watching a bird eat, seeing a color filled sunset, wearing new warm socks on a cold day.  Be sure to take the time to embrace the joy you feel in the smaller things in life

Find small joys today.

Resistance

In recent years, I have come to embrace joy as an act of resistance. There is so much evil and sadness out there and it was through reading and following Black activists that I realized that we can’t get lost in the idea of finding joy wherever we can.

How do you resist the evil and sadness of our world?

Fleeting Joy

I feel like in the COVID world joy is like an overly polite guest who might be waiting for you to invite them to call you after texting. We might feel a fleeting moment of joy, and then too often squash it instead of acknowledging the moment. It takes work to be present for joy in the everyday life, and more so in the life we face right now.

Relish a moment of fleeting joy today.